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In my youth, I was dull-witted. Apart from studying for the imperial examinations, I devoted all my energy and anxiety to passionately studying classics such as *Suwen* (Basic Questions of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) and *Bencao* (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica). In my hometown, I was erroneously compared to Bo Xiu (a pseudonym for Xia Fu, a Han dynasty recluse), thereby praising my integrity and erudition.

After resigning from the eight-legged essay studies, I engaged in military strategy. During the campaigns of the Mao and Chen years, I successively passed the provincial exams and studied in the capital. Through my medical skills, I gained some recognition among contemporary princes, nobles, and scholar-officials. Not long after, I was appointed to manage the transport of money and grain for the Zhenwei Garrison. In my spare time, those who came to inquire about illnesses and seek diagnosis were numerous, filling the garrison quarters. Whether my Dao (Way/Art) was trusted or not by others could be known by observing those who came. However, this made me even more fearful and apprehensive. Let alone the diseases where water/fire and cold/heat appear similar but are fundamentally different, or where the slight difference between strengthening and attacking therapies leads to a discrepancy of a thousand miles; even regarding the four properties of cold, heat, flatness, and warmth, for a single herb, the root and the tip have different uses; for a single sprout, raw and cooked forms are applied differently; for a single processing method, there are multiple uses; for multiple processing methods, there may be a single use. Within these, the principles of Jun-Chen-Zuo-Shi (Monarch-Minister-Assistant-Courier in prescription formulation) and the prohibitions of Wei-E-Fan-Ji (Mutual Fear, Mutual Dislike, Mutual Opposition, and Mutual Avoidance among herbs) often have life-and-death distinctions as subtle as breath. Picking them up casually, one distinguishes creation itself. Are not Su Zi Ren's words on complexity something to be regarded with awe? Later, I realized that the *Bencao* book, enduring alongside *Suwen* and *Lingshu*, is indeed the golden thread of medicine. However, physicians of the world eagerly seek techniques for health preservation, roughly recognizing drug properties and superficially browsing soup formulas, yet remain confidently unshaken. Alas! The *Bencao* book is vast as the Milky Way, boundless; how can the medical Dao be spoken of lightly? This is no other reason than the voluminous nature of the texts; some are too poor to acquire books, and even if they have the means, their qualifications or energy may be insufficient to read them. I often wished to think of a work that is concise yet comprehensive, clear yet appropriate, detailed and prudent yet essential, simple and rigorous yet summarizing, to instruct future learners. Regrettably, I was too busy with official duties to attend to it. One day, Mr. Jiang Xuezhou visited my office and presented a compilation he had edited, which turned out to be the *Bencao Zheyao Gangmu* (Outline of Selected Essentials of Materia Medica) compiled by his respected father, Mr. Jie Fan. Holding it and reading, it seemed exactly what I had envisioned: concise yet comprehensive, clear yet appropriate, detailed and prudent yet essential, simple and rigorous yet summarizing. Those who hear its name but do not urgently apply its utility, though broad, are useless. Now, selecting only over three hundred fifty essential items is like having elite soldiers and good generals sufficient to annihilate the enemy, without needing the multitude of empty voices that squander supplies. Herbs that mutually dislike should not be taken together; those that mutually fear should not be drunk together; those that mutually oppose or have taboos should not be treated together, just as gentlemen and petty men are distinguished by category, allowing one to plan regulation and governance together. Citing classics as guides and assistants, and naming processed soups clearly under the drugs, is like the longitude and latitude of mountains and rivers, or the modulation of Yin and Yang; they can be separated or combined to jointly accomplish the transformation and nurturing of life. Is this not a merit to the sages Xuanyuan, Qibo, and Yu Fu? How shallow could such merit be? I have shamefully served in Xujing for five years, hearing only of Mr. Jie Fan's noble conduct like that of Lumen Mountain and hidden virtue like that of Yanshan Mountain, unaware that he devoted himself to writing with such earnestness to benefit the world and relieve things. In the spring of the Jiwei year, when Xuezhou's printing was nearly complete, he asked me for a preface. Holding his hand, I sighed and said, "You have achieved three virtues in one act. Expanding your ancestors' will is Filial Piety; saving the world is Benevolence; spreading it across the seas and transmitting it for a thousand autumns, so that doctors rely on it without blindness and patients in danger have support, is the benefit of Righteousness." How fortunate am I to tread in the land of incense (scholarship) and secretly attach myself to those who understand medicine? I merely write this to express the generational virtue of the Jiang family and seek those who strive for it.

On the second day after the Shangsi Festival of the Jiwei year in the Kangxi era, Your humble brother and fellow alumnae from Taiyuan, Yang Yaozu, washed his hands and respectfully wrote this at the Zhenjiang Wei Office.